It’s been over 30 years since I lived in Paris. I spent eight glorious, carefree years there. After a year as a student, I planned to stay on for just one more year’s work experience, 40 years later and I still haven’t returned to the UK. I worked several jobs in food before moving to Bordeaux. It was hard to leave Paris; 30 years ago Bordeaux  was not the vibrant and exciting city it is today.

I lived in the suburbs as a student, studying for a Masters in agri-food marketing at Essec, in Pontoise. When I started work, I moved to the 11th arrondissement, living near the Bastille, (before it was trendy). Interestingly a lot of the new Parisiennes in this book seem to be living in and around that part of Paris.  Once I became ‘bourgoise’ (i.e. started to earn some decent money), I moved west to the 16th. 

My first job taught me how to navigate my way around Paris. There’s nothing like getting lost at 6am on Parisian streets trying to find the supermarket, whose shelves you have to stack, to learn your way around the city. Later, in the meat business, I was still getting up at ungodly hours (who needs sleep when you’re in your twenties?), going to the wholesale food market of Rungis to meet lorry loads of beef and lamb carcasses – glamorous eh? 

I thought of myself of a Parisienne, a feeling that stayed with me for years after leaving, so I was excited to meet the ‘New Parisiennes’ profiled in Lindeys Tramuta’s book, The New Parisienne, published last month. A trip down memory lane perhaps? I was in for a surprise.

I ‘met’ Lindsey during a Champagne fuelled zoom call thanks to the wonderful Cynthia Coutu of Delectabulles as she took us through a virtual tour and history of Badass women of Champagne. It was a hoot as well as an education, I highly recommend signing up for one of these, and the next one is planned for 16th August. 

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Lindsey Tramuta is American, a journalist from Philadelphia. She has lived in Paris for over a decade and writes about Paris, Parisians and French culture for several American journals as well as sharing her experiences on her blog and podcast ‘Lost in Cheeseland‘. She’s well placed to profile the women of Paris.

Things have changed since I was there, or perhaps I was just a shallow youth? My memories of Paris were of food, wine, parties and Parisians. Her Parisiennes are inspirational, innovative and driven, drawn from diverse sectors of society but also nations. Proof you don’t have to be French to be Parisienne, and you that don’t have to confirm to the classic image of a slim, chic French woman either – something she is very keen to point out from the start of the book

The subtitle of the book is ‘Women and Ideas Shaping Paris’ she introduces her Parisiennes by categories, although many of them must have been hard to categorise, as they cross boundaries. She divides them into Activists, Creators, Disruptors, Storytellers, Tastemakers and Visionaries, with dives into subjects such as motherhood, image and representation.  Amongst the Tastemakers, there is one Parisienne in the booze business, the mixologist Margot Lecarpentier of Combat.

I loved meeting them, seeing Paris through their eyes and I’m really intrigued by their recommendations of places to eat, drink (back to my old habits), hang out and shop. 

I sadly won’t be visiting Paris any time soon, being half a world away thanks to Covid, but I now have my new improved to-do list at the ready for when I do. 

The New Parisienne follows Lindsey’s previous book, The New Paris, published in 2017. It already offered a window into the vibrant energy of new ideas and trends in the city in food, wine, fashion and design, inspiring you to revisit. This new book will inspire you to meet the women behind these changes and follow in their footsteps. 

If, like me, you can’t get to Paris now, use their recommendations to dream and plan so you’ll be ready to visit when you can. 

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